It’s time for more portable sanitation stories, ripped from the headlines. As always, I welcome your comments on topics covered in the media in recent months.
Dead bodies, loaded pistol found in portable restrooms
My daily reviews of internet searches are chock full of news accounts of strange and disturbing things found in portable restrooms. This got me wondering about the most unusual items that have turned up in restrooms on your service routes.
In Canton, Ohio, a construction worker went to use the restroom on a building site and the door was locked. After a while, he forced his way in and found the body of a 70-year-old man. The cause of death was not immediately known, but the coroner reported there was no trauma found on the body. In Newport, Rhode Island, a 48-year-old man was found dead in a portable at a road construction site.
Based on news accounts I receive, instances of people dying in portable restrooms seem to be on the rise. I would only be speculating to suggest growing homeless populations, drug use or natural causes deaths are involved. Or maybe this is not something new, but we just hear about it more often because of the vast number and reach of media outlets through the internet. In another case that could have ended much worse, a visitor at an Omaha, Nebraska, playground discovered a loaded .45-caliber Sig Sauer handgun on the seat of a portable restroom. Local law enforcement posted a photo of the gun on social media and it was claimed by a man who said it was stolen from his unlocked car near the park. The sheriff’s department reported there is no penalty for leaving an unsecured firearm in a vehicle and speculated the thief decided to dump the stolen gun or left it in the restroom for someone else to pick up.
So what have you discovered while servicing restrooms? And have you ever had to involve the police in a situation like this during your daily route? Share your stories at editor@promonthly.com and I’ll list them in a future column.
Note to vandals: Blow up something else
“I like to blow stuff up. But not porta-potties.” That’s what an exasperated Avery White, owner of Abe’s Portables in Omaha, Nebraska, told a KETV-7 reporter after several of the company’s units were damaged by fireworks. At one destroyed park unit, White held up a paper fireworks wrapper to prove how vandals were targeting the restrooms. “It’s never going to cripple us, but it kind of sucks to have to clean these up,” he said on the TV news.There was a rash of complaints about fireworks damage to restrooms across the country in the last several months. Over the Fourth of July alone, White said at least five of his restrooms were hit. A representative for a baseball organization in Omaha said these volunteer groups had to pay for repairs for at least seven restrooms. These groups raise money to offer sports programs for youth and I’m sure they don’t have a lot of extra cash laying around to pay for this thoughtless vandalism.
Have you figured out a way to curb this rampant vandalism of your units? Please share your ideas to save fellow PROs time and money and help our community groups continue to offer valued recreational services.
Keep portable restrooms out of the bike lane
I’ll bet you didn’t know there are rabid bicycling enthusiasts looking out for restrooms blocking bike lanes in major cities. I saw the proof recently when David Shellnutt, known as The Biking Lawyer, posted a photo of a construction unit parked in a bike lane in Toronto in Canadian Cycling Magazine. “Sadly, this happens more often than not. At least three times last year we reported on it,” Shellnut tweeted about the restroom put in the way of riders.
This is yet another placement hazard at or around construction sites in busy city locations. It’s important to take many factors into consideration when serving your construction clients and protecting the general public around these sites. Worker safety is paramount as they navigate around trucks, machines and construction debris. But don’t forget about pedestrians or cyclists when you set up restrooms. They don’t expect obstructions in bike lanes or along sidewalks, and unlike the construction crews, they are not used to looking out for these hazards.
Glastonbury Festival ranks best in restroom access
The European Cleaning Journal noted that a survey by manufacturer Diamond Trailers ranked Glastonbury Festival in Somerset, England, as the top music venue for access to portable sanitation. Following standards published by restroom provider Let Loos, the Journal story said Glastonbury would need a minimum of 2,742 toilets and urinals for its 210,000-person capacity crowd. The festival provided about 5,000 units at this year’s June festival featuring artists including Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, Lizzo and Arctic Monkeys.
How does that ratio of people to restrooms compare to your biggest event of the busy season? If you served a big music festival this year, let us know how many restrooms and restroom trailers you provided to serve attendees. Did it turn out to be enough or will you be suggesting event planners add more units for 2024?
Check the rules before placing a backyard unit
Town officials in Rising Sun, Maryland, put a damper on backyard portable restrooms. According to the Cecil Daily in Elkton, Maryland, commissioners recently passed an ordinance to fine homeowners $50 per day for having restrooms on their property for more than a week at a time. The ordinance will allow a portable restroom placement on a residential property twice over a three-month period, but not to exceed a week each time. The fines kick in after two weeks, allowing a one-week grace period.
I imagine this “emergency” ordinance was prompted by neighbor complaints about restrooms being used for graduation parties, pool parties and the like at private residences. Perhaps requiring frequent service intervals and screening the units from neighbors would have been a good intermediate step before so sharply limiting use of portable restrooms. Portable restrooms offer convenience and sanitation on private properties and local governments should do as little as possible to hinder their use. What say you?
Have you had to retrieve a restroom from the water?
Apparently portable restrooms are still seen bobbing up and down in canals in Cape Coral, Florida, a year after Hurricane Ian strewn debris across the Sunshine State. Residents aren’t happy about it and are looking for someone to blame for the reportedly 30 restrooms yet to be pulled out of the water.
“It’s more bacteria in the water, of course. And we have a lot of boats that come through here and they could hit [the restroom] and damage their boats, and it’s just an eyesore,” said Shelly Sorich, talking to NBC-2 News in Fort Myers, Florida.
Folks in Florida have been reading the name on the doors of floating restrooms and calling the PROs to retrieve them, including one that washed up on shore. One of the restroom contractors was Jeff Tankersley, CEO of TOI TOI USA, who spoke to NBC-2.
“We are fishing these out of canals and cleaning them up. There’s a lot we are getting to. If there’s one in someone’s yard, we likely just haven’t gotten to it,” he explained.
I recall many years ago writing about a PRO who jumped into the water off the Atlantic Coast and pulled one of his units back to shore. He even sent us photos of this athletic feat. Have you ever had to perform a similar rescue? And if so, was the unit salvageable or beaten into a worthless pile of plastic by the wave action? I’ve been looking for another photo or video of a PRO dragging a restroom back to shore for more than a decade.
